The Sisters (37 page)

Everything that she’d been in fear of just melted away into the distance. She’d worked hard to resume her relationship with Lena, which required nothing more than her just sitting down with her daughter and talking openly with her. As Beatrice had told her a few weeks ago it was the fact that you kept something secret, not the secret itself that got you in the end. It was the energy that you spent trying to suppress it or denying that it ever happened that would eat away at you. Life was moving forward and she didn’t really have any say in the matter. It was just the laws of motions in action and Andrew was another force that she had to contend with. There was no way that she was just going to sit there and let him use his whole force against her.

‘Earth to Jess,’ Beatrice said as she sat down next to Jessica in the waiting area.

‘Sorry, Bea, I was miles away,’ Jessica replied as she let Beatrice kiss her on the cheek. ‘Oh wow, I like your hair. It really suits you.’

Beatrice grinned and smoothed down her hair, which had now been cut into a long bob. ‘I wasn’t sure about cutting it at first but I woke up one morning and just thought to hell with it. I need a change. Every time I looked in the mirror I just felt like an invisible working mother. I didn’t feel like me. So, I did it. Told Kelly to cut it. She thought I was mad but I’ve had the same boring hairstyle for donkey’s years and all I ever did with it was wrap it up in a ponytail. So there we have it.’

‘Well, it looks really good. Bea, I wanted to say that you were right.’

‘About what?’

‘About taking advantage of you. You were right.’

‘Jess. Look, forget that I said any of that. I was feeling stressed, angry and overwhelmed and I took it out on you. I shouldn’t have done that.’

‘But it was all true Bea and you know it was.’

‘Even so, I should have found a found better way to tell you instead of screaming at you whilst I had Jake’s underpants in my hands.’

Both of the sisters burst out laughing. ‘God, this has been a rough summer,’ Jess said as she leaned back in the chair.

‘I know, it’s been absolutely nuts. Right, I’ve got to go to court in a bit. I just wanted to wish you luck. Not that you have anything to worry about.’

‘Is he here?’ Jessica asked quietly. Beatrice nodded.

‘Arrived about twenty minutes go. I had to tell James that he was to call security if he saw me heading towards the conference room. He followed me down here to make sure that I was actually meeting you.’

‘Every time I think about what he did to Lou and the things he’s done to me. I can’t believe that I chose him.’

‘Don’t even think about it Jess, he’s not worth it and now you know what sort of man he is. Everything happens for a reason and Andrew showing his true colours has been the best thing for you.’

‘It doesn’t feel like it.’

‘Look at where you are and the people who are in your life now. If he hadn’t shown himself for what he was think about how different your life would have been.’

Jessica let Beatrice’s words reverberate in her head as Sarah took her to meet Anoushka.

‘Beatrice tells me that you were rather pissed off that I was representing you.’ Jessica stood open mouthed as Anoushka appeared in front of her in a mist of Tom Ford perfume, balancing precariously on five inch heels. ‘But let’s not concern ourselves about that. Do you know that this is the first time that I’ve met any of the LeSoeur sisters? Are you all so tall?’

‘I’m afraid so, except out of the four of us, I think that I’m the shortest. It’s nice to finally meet you Anoushka. Beatrice tells me that you’re very good.’

‘Very good? Darling, I’m more than just very good. I’m absolutely outstanding. I mean, let’s call a spade a spade. They call me a Rottweiler bitch behind my back, don’t they Sarah?’

‘I’ve never heard anyone call you that?’ Sarah said, although they were both aware that this was a complete lie.

‘My sister may have left that bit out.’

‘Your sister is too nice but don’t let that
butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth
act fool you. She’s a fierce one. Right, enough chit chat. Are you ready?’

The look on Jessica’s face said it all and she followed Anoushka who quickly turned and strutted away down the corridor.

Jessica exhaled sharply when she saw Andrew sitting on the other side of the mahogany table with his lawyer. He was dressed sharply in a navy Hugo Boss suit, with the face of the Breitling watch shining brightly against the cuffs of his white shirt. He didn’t say a word, just smiled smugly at Jessica as she sat down next to Sarah.

‘Nice to see you that you’ve finally graced us with your presence Anoushka,’ said the man in the chalk striped suit sitting next to Andrew. He was tanned and clean-shaven but with thick, curly white hair. He looked as though he should have been taking over Jeremy Paxman’s place on Newsnight or playing Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse. Even though he was sitting down doing nothing except doodling on a notepad, he exuded charisma.

‘It’s a pleasure to see you too, Maxwell. Keeping well,’ Anoushka replied as she sat at the head of the table and opened her laptop.

‘Doing well as always,’ Maxwell said with a smile.

‘Well now that we’ve got the pleasantries out of the way let’s get down to the business. When is your client going to refrain from being such a arsehole and stop making such unreasonable demands?’

Whilst Jessica sat in what could only have been one of the most surreal moments of her life, Richard was sitting waiting for the arrival of Dr. Marcus. He’d spent so much time in this hospital that he was wondering if it’d be out of order if he asked for a wing to be named after him or at least give him free parking. The amount that he’d spent on parking fees was outrageous and he wondered how parents like Liam, who were just keeping their heads above water financially, coped when they had a child in hospital for months. Even with the return of his oldest daughter and her children, Richard could openly admit that this had been the worse summer of his life and for all he knew this could be the last summer of his life. He’d been through every emotion possible. He’d fought and tried to remain positive when all he wanted to do was go to bed and wait for that beautiful angel of death to take him away. He’d convinced himself at one point that his death would be the greatest gift that he could give his family, especially when he found himself suffering from the side-effects of the treatment that was supposed to help him. He was glad that Felicia wasn’t with him. She’d wanted to phone the university and tell them that she wouldn’t be able to make the faculty meeting that morning but Richard had persuaded her to go. It would be easier to deal with the news on his own without having the pressure of having to comfort his wife if the news wasn’t good.

‘Richard, how are you feeling? You look like you’ve put on a bit of weight.’

‘I put on six pounds and then I lost it again. I’m blaming the shark cartilage.’

‘You didn’t?’ Dr. Marcus said, his face a mixture of surprise and shock.

‘No, but if my grandson had his way I would have been and if it didn’t cost so much money I would have given it a try.’

‘Well, I’m glad that you didn’t try it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that modern day medicine is the answer for everything, there’s so much that we don’t know and I’ve got no issues with experimental treatments or alternative therapy but there are some things that I draw the line at. Anyway, back to you.’

Richard took a deep breath.

‘It’s good news.’

‘What? What’s good news?’

‘I know that the chemo and radiotherapy has been aggressive but there has been a significant reduction in the tumours.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Yes, I’m serious. Your MRI scans are quite remarkable really.’ Dr. Marcus spun his computer monitor round to show Richard. ‘If you look here.’ The doctor indicated around a dark grey area on the screen with his pen ‘In comparison to these scans from four months ago, even to a layman, you can see the change.’

‘But what does that mean? Am I in remission?’

‘As much as I’d like to I’m very reluctant to say that you’re in remission. I don’t want to give you false hope, as I told you in the very beginning, pancreatic cancer is…’

‘I know what you said. The outlook isn’t good. Only 18% live for a year after diagnosis. Only 4% live for five years and 3% live for 10 years or more. I can repeat those numbers in my sleep.’

‘Look Richard, you’re in a better position than most. You have stage 2 cancer and there are no signs that it has spread into your lymph nodes or any of the surrounding tissues of the pancreas.’

‘So, what now? What are my options?’

‘Surgery. And I’m not going to lie to you. Unless there’s a chance that we can remove the tumours entirely there’s not much point, especially if we take into account factors such as…’

‘I know, my age. I’m not exactly a young man even though I can still play for Chelsea,’ Richard said with a slight smile.

‘QPR maybe. Look, I’m not saying that you should rule it out. Even though the tumours have reduced they’re still measuring 3.6cm in diameter, which is still quite large but not inoperable, however there’s no guarantee that this will cure you.’

‘I understand.’

‘And if you decide to have surgery and you get through it, you’ll still have to undergo 6 more months of chemo.’

‘So what do I do now? I mean, I want to beat this. Not just for me but for my family. What would you do?’

‘I can’t tell you what to do, Richard.’

‘I’m not asking you to tell me what to do. I’m just asking what would you do if it was you?’

‘This is completely against the rules, you know.’

‘You supporting Manchester United when you’ve told me that you were born in Reading is against the rules doc,’ Richard said. ‘So go on, I won’t tell.’

Dr. Marcus looked down at the photograph of his two sons on his desk. They were only three and seven-years-old and he couldn’t imagine not being there to play football with them in the garden or just hold them at night. ‘I’d try everything. Sometimes you have to take a risk.’

‘THAT WAS brilliant,’ Carter said, almost jumping up from the sofa as though he’d just received an electric shock.

‘Do you really think so? I wasn’t too sure about how I sounded with the last song,’ Lucinda said as she fiddled with the microphone stand. ‘The show is in just two weeks. I don’t think that I’m ready?’

‘Stop panicking. You sounded good to me,’ Dave the guitarist said, whilst Luke on piano and Sebastian on the bass guitar nodded their agreements.

‘Yep. Carter was definitely right about closing the song without us. I may even have been moved to a tear or two,’ said George who was still holding onto his drumsticks as he sat on the floor. ‘You need to tell your mum that she has nothing to worry about. You haven’t lost it. In fact I think you sound better then you did before.’

‘Mom, honestly that was amazing. Absolutely amazing,’ Katelyn said as she struggled to get up from the battered sofa, considering that she was squeezed in between her brother, Carter and Luke. Lucinda didn’t have the energy to smile. It had been a long day. In fact, it had been a long couple of weeks, especially as her dad was now recovering in hospital after his surgery. The decision he had made didn’t surprise her in the slightest but the fear she felt that her dad might not leave the hospital alive had shaken her very core. Thankfully the operation appeared to have been successful, now she prayed that he was fit enough to recover from the savage invasion of his body. She’d literally done a whole circuit of London today. She’d been down to the South Bank to be interviewed by Lorraine and then had to return back to Notting Hill where
Allure’s
photographer was waiting. As soon as they were done, she’d jumped into her car, picked the twins up from school and driven straight to St Thomas’ hospital to see her dad for an hour before speeding down to New Cross. She was convinced that in a few weeks time there would be at least six speeding tickets through her door. As she’d driven down the Old Kent Road and literally flew over the flyover, Reece pointed out that they’d never actually seen their mother perform live. They’d obviously heard her singing around the house and watched old videos of her and their aunts but they’d never seen her standing in a room with a microphone in her hand, singing with her entire soul. Seeing her children sitting in the studio waiting for her to sing filled her with nerves that she hadn’t experienced. She had uprooted their lives so much that there was no way she could let them down now.

‘Right, why don’t we give
Stripped Back
a go?’ Carter said as he picked up his own acoustic guitar. It was the very first song that they had worked on together but she was unsure about singing it now. It was written when she was at her most vulnerable and like all of the LeSoeur women she was very good of painting a picture of strong warrior whilst her insides shook as though a Jack Hammer was attacking her. ‘Come on,’ Carter said as he saw the brief look of vulnerability pass in Lucinda’s eyes.

‘Fine. I suppose it won’t kill me,’ Lucinda said as she pulled up the stool and adjusted her microphone stand as Carter begun to strum the opening chords. When Lucinda finished you could have heard a pin drop, even the sounds of the passing traffic couldn’t penetrate the glassy silence, until the room broke out in rampant applause.

‘Mom, I have no idea why you were worried. That was beautiful,’ Katelyn said as she sprang out of her seat and straight into her mums’ arms.

‘Oh, thank you angel.’

‘Well, I don’t care what you say, you’re definitely ready to show them that you’re back,’ Carter said with a wide grin.

As they drove to Greenwich, Lucinda couldn’t stop the smile that seemed permanently etched on her face since she had left the studio. It came both from the joy of knowing that she was doing what she was born to do and from knowing that her children were proud of her. As she pulled into the driveway, she could see that her mum was already home, her car parked neatly on the drive.

‘Gran,’ both of the twins shouted in unison as soon as they threw the door open whilst Lucinda straddled behind them carrying the bags of Indian takeaway that they’d picked up. ‘I’ll be down in a minute,’ Felicia’s voice echoed down the stairs. ‘I’m just on the phone to Noah.’